The musical ‘chameleon’ taking the guitar places you’ve never considered

Like countless youngsters before him, Sean Shibe picked up a guitar while he was at school.

“There was a musical instrument shop that my mother walked past, and there was a guitar there [she bought],” he says. “And at that time, there was a guitar club after school, so I did that.”

However, unlike the vast majority of bedroom guitarists, Edinburgh-born Shibe quickly showed extraordinary aptitude and passion for the instrument. At the age of 32, he has gone on to become a virtuoso, playing both classical and electric guitar (and renaissance lute) and restlessly pushing the boundaries of the instrument’s capabilities. Gramophone Magazine has described him as “the most interesting voice on the guitar for a generation”.

Sean Shibe’s world straddles both classical and electric guitar.Credit: Janie Barrett

Unusually, though, even as he was dazzling others with his facility on the instrument, he was beset for years with doubts about his choice.

“Even as an undergraduate, there were times when I was, like, ‘I’m not sure I really like the guitar as an instrument’,” he says. “The guitar has a lot of drawbacks.”

Shibe is referring in part to the classical guitar’s perceived lack of dynamic range, but he has begun to delight in finding ways to address this issue.

“People often trot out that phrase of the guitar being an orchestra in miniature, but that’s as indicative as it is misleading,” he says. “Over time, I think I engaged more with the instrument as a conduit for lots of different colours and a palette of sonority that has a range that instruments like the piano can’t quite encapsulate.”

Shibe is as well known for performing and recording on electric guitar as he is classical guitar. One reason he turned to the instrument more usually associated with rock and pop was to solve some of the classical guitar’s “problems”.

“There were pieces that I wanted to play that needed a solution that the classical guitar could not bring, and the electric guitar is expansive in terms of what it can do in a way very few other instruments can.

“It is not only a pitch-based instrument; it can also communicate textures and ideas in totally alien ways. In Europe, I’m seeing a huge number of composers for the electric guitar in a very serious investigative way.”

Shibe’s remarkable 2022 electric guitar album, Lost & Found, presented a wildly eclectic program of mostly meditative tracks from composers ranging from 12th-century composer Hildegard of Bingen to jazz legend Chick Corea.

‘I’ve just always tried to find things that have interested me the most.’

Sean Shibe, guitarist

In contrast, his 2020 album, Bach, is composed entirely of J.S. Bach compositions played on classical guitar. One review praised the recording for its “nostalgic sweetness” and “sheer unabashed joy”.

For his coming concert series with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Shibe will delve deep into his roots with a program entitled Scotland Unbound. The music will range from traditional folk tunes to contemporary compositions. It will also feature Shibe on both classical and electric guitars.

Shibe has been labelled both “shape-shifting” and a “chameleon” in the past. I wonder whether he is happy to own these labels?

“I’ve just always tried to find things that have interested me the most, and I think that’s led me to slightly different avenues than most guitarists would have entered. I’m really happy about that,” he says.

Scotland Unbound, Australian Chamber Orchestra, City Recital Hall, November 9, 12 and 13, and Sydney Opera House, November 10. Hamer Hall Arts Centre, Melbourne, November 17 and 18. Other dates here.